Workplace design

Package-filling and -handling machinery, workplace design, warehouse practice, and acceptability of packages from workplace and warehouse viewpoint. 

Ergonomics The science dealing with the application of information on physical and psychological characteristics to workplace design. 

Human Factors Engineering/Ergonomics approach (control of error by design, audit, and feedback of operational experience) Occupational/process safety Manual/control operations Routine operation Task analysis Job design Workplace design Interface design Physical environment evaluation Workload analysis Infrequent... 

Brill, M. Margiilis, S. and Knnar, E. (1984). Using Oflice Design to Increase Productivity, Volume 1. Buffalo, NY Workplace Design and Productivity, Inc. 

Provision of adequate ventilation is one of the keys to development and maintenance of a contaminant-free workplace. Design of a proper ventilation system is normally a task undertaken by a professional engineer or a qualified industrial hygienist. All that will be attempted here is to present the principles so that the topic can be considered with some meaningful background. 

Worker participation in work and workplace design worker participation in planning phase and ongoing hazard anticipation and recognition... 

Synthetic adhesives involve a greater risk potential in their production (usually not evident to consumer), processing (greater expenses involved in workplace design and higher process design expenditures), and application (emissions,... 

Identify error-prone situations and causes of errors or cognitive biases—e.g., irrelevant or superfluous information, inadequate work organization, poor workplace design, and insufficient knowledge. 

Anthropometry can be divided into two types physical anthropometry, which deals with basic dimensions of the human body in standing and sitting positions (see, e.g.. Tables 1 and 2), and functional anthropometry, which is task oriented. Both physical and functional anthropometry can be considered in either a static or dynamic sense. Static analysis implies that only the body segment lengths in fixed position wiU be considered in workplace design. Dynamic analysis requires that acceptability of design be evaluated with respect to the need to move the body from one position to another, as well as the reach and clearance considerations. 

An example of the important dynamic data for workplace design is range of joint mohUity (Table 3) which corresponds to postures illustrated in Figure 1. Very useful anthropometric data, both static and dynamic, are provided by the Humanscale (Henry Dreyfuss Associates 1981). When anthropometric requirements for the workplace are not met, biomechanical stresses, which may manifest themselves in postural discomfort, low back pain, and overexertion injury, are likely to occur (Grieve and Pheasant 1982). Inadequate anthropometric design can lead to machine safety hazards, loss of motion economy, and poor visibility. In other words, the consequences of anthropometric misfits may of be a biomechanical and perceptual nature, directly impacting worker safety, health, and plant productivity. 

The recommendations for workplace design with respect to anthropometric criteria can be estabUshed by the principle of design for the extreme, also known as the method of limits (Pheasant 1989). The basic idea behind this concept is to establish specific boundary conditions (percentile yalue of the... 

In order to facilitate the application of anthropometric data and biomechanical analysis in workplace design, several computer-based models of man have been developed. These computer-aided tools... 

Figure 3 Illustration of Workplace Design Using SAMMIE System. (Reproduced with permission from SAMMIE CAD, Ltd.)...

Workplace design to prevent repetitive strain injury should be directed toward fulfiUing the following recommendations ... 

Schaub, K., Landau, K., Menges, R., and Grossmann, K. (1997), A Computer-Aided Tool for Ergonomic Workplace Design and Preventive Health Care, Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing, Vol. 7, No. 4, pp. 269-304. 

Grobelny, J., Anthropometric Data for a Driver s Workplace Design in the AutoCAD System, in Computer-Aided Ergonomics, W. Karwowski, A. Genaidy, and S. S. Asfour, Eds., Taylor Francis, London, pp. 80-89. 

Workplace design for safety/ease/stress/fatigue 2 5 13 5... 

Kondraske, G.V. 1988c. Workplace design an elemental resource approach to task analysis and human performance measurements. Proceedings of the International Conference on Association in Advances Rehabilitation Technology, pp. 608-611. 

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